Politics
- Caitlin Dickson‘Troll storm’ goes after Jewish residents of Richard Spencer’s Montana hometown
The FBI is reportedly reviewing the spate of harassing emails and tweets that have slammed residents of the small town of Whitefish, Mont., after the neo-Nazi site Daily Stormer put out a cyberhit on several members of the Jewish community there last week. The call to “take action” against Jews in the small ski resort town was issued after Whitefish resident and property owner Sherry Spencer, mother of prominent white nationalist figure Richard Spencer, told the local ABC News affiliate earlier this month that mounting backlash over her son’s controversial political views had forced her to consider selling her property downtown.
- Olivier KnoxTrump portrays Berlin attack as onslaught against Christians
President-elect Donald Trump characterized the gruesome truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin as part of a systematic campaign by Muslim extremists against Christians, fueling speculation that he views the war on terrorism as a clash of civilizations and not a conflict against extremists. “ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad,” Trump said.
- Dylan StablefordAlabama official apologizes for chopping public park tree for Trump rally
An Alabama mayor’s chief of staff has apologized for cutting down a giant tree from a city park in Mobile so it could be used as a backdrop for President-elect Donald Trump’s “thank you” rally at a nearby football stadium. Colby Cooper, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s top aide, admitted he was “overzealous” in fulfilling a request from Trump’s advance team ahead of Saturday’s event. The 50-foot cedar tree was cut down at the city’s Public Safety Memorial Park on Friday and taken to Ladd-Peebles Stadium, placed behind the podium was decorated with Christmas ornaments.
- Michael WalshGermany’s refugee policy under scrutiny after Berlin attack
Tensions over Germany’s large migrant community reignited after authorities detained an asylum-seeker from Pakistan in connection with the deadly truck attack that killed at least 12 and injured nearly 50 at a bustling Christmas market Monday.
- Michael Isikoff44 years after conviction, Freedom Rider Sala Udin is pardoned by Obama
President Obama’s decision this week to issue 78 Christmas season pardons — the most of his presidency — should have special meaning for veterans of the civil rights movement. Among the recipients was former Pittsburgh City Council member Sala Udin, a onetime Freedom Rider who was beaten up registering voters in 1960s Mississippi. “I’m ecstatic,” Udin emailed Yahoo News shortly after he got the call from his lawyer that his long-languishing bid for a pardon had finally been granted by Obama. After waiting patiently for years, Udin had all but given up hope.
Dylan StablefordMichelle Obama says she's not interested in running for officeFirst Lady Michelle Obama says she has no plans to run for office after her family leaves the White House. “I don’t make stuff up, I’m not coy — I’m pretty direct,” Obama told Oprah Winfrey in an interview that aired on CBS Monday night.
- Michael WalshLGBT advocates troubled by catch in N.C. deal to scrap HB2
LGBT advocates celebrated the news Monday that North Carolina legislators were planning to repeal an unpopular law, known as House Bill 2 (HB2), which hurt the state’s reputation and resulted in job losses. Simone Bell, the regional director of the southern office for Lamda Legal, an LGBT civil rights organization, told Yahoo News that the group was disheartened that the rights of LGBT people in Charlotte were sacrificed in order to get rid of HB2.
- Michael WalshMerriam-Webster: ‘Surreal’ Is the Word of the Year for 2016
Merriam-Webster announced Monday that “surreal” is its top Word of the Year for 2016. Peter Sokolowski, the editor at large for Merriam-Webster, told Yahoo News that these are the criteria, because many of the most looked-up words are actually the same every year. “When we look at year-over-year growth, we see really interesting things about what’s new and different about 2016,” Sokolowski said.
Dylan StablefordTexas GOP elector voting Kasich over Trump: ‘I don't consider this a protest vote’Republican electors are gathering around the country on Monday to certify Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. But Chris Suprun says he won't be one of them.
- Christopher WilsonElectoral College who’s who: Names to know in the pool of 538
Members of the Electoral College are meeting in state capitals across the country today to officially cast their votes to name the 45th president of the United States. While Donald Trump has earned the title president-elect and begun the transition to staffing his new administration, the results of the election won’t be official until he collects 270 of the 538 total electoral votes. The process for selecting electors varies widely from state to state, as do the rules stating whether or not an elector can go rogue and cast a vote for someone other than the candidate selected by their state’s vote.
Dylan StablefordBill Clinton: Trump knows ‘how to get angry, white men to vote for him’In an impromptu discussion with a reporter from the Bedford, N.Y., Record-Review, Clinton said those voters helped deliver Trump his victory. According to exit-poll data published by the Washington Post, 71 percent of white men with no college degree voted for Trump, compared with just 23 percent for Hillary Clinton. The former president also pointed to Russian cyberattacks against Democrats and FBI Director James Comey’s decision to alert Congress about newly discovered emails related to the bureau’s probe of Hillary Clinton’s private email server on the eve of the election.
Dylan StablefordObama: ‘This is going to be a browner country’Regardless of what President-elect Donald Trump’s plans are for immigration, President Barack Obama says there will be “inevitable” changes to the demographics of the United States. “If you stopped all immigration today, just by virtue of birth rates, this is going to be a browner country,” Obama told NPR’s Steve Inskeep in an interview that aired Monday.
Yahoo News Photo StaffAnti-Trump protesters gather as Electoral College votesThe Electoral College’s usually ceremonial role has come under focus in the aftermath of the 2016 election due to a number of factors — including that Democrat Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by a significant margin, and the finding by the CIA and FBI that Russia used hacking to try to influence the election. Public demonstrations opposed to Trump are expected in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., on Monday to encourage electors to vote in line with the national popular vote, protest organizers said. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which is spearheading several of the events, said its goal is to talk to electors as they enter the meetings in their respective states to help them feel supported should they decide to vote according to the popular vote.
- Dylan StablefordLoretta Lynch still regrets tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says she still regrets her impromptu meeting with former President Bill Clinton on her private plane before the Department of Justice concluded its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state. “I do regret sitting down and having a conversation with him because it did give people concern,” Lynch told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday. Lynch met with Clinton for a half-hour on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on June 27, prompting calls from Republicans to completely recuse herself from the inquiry.
- Dylan StablefordPodesta: FBI contacted me just once about hacked emails
Former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta says the Democratic nominee and her staff “bear responsibility for the outcome” of the 2016 presidential election. “I think he had a big effect on this election,” Podesta said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday in his first interview since Clinton’s loss.
- Brandon AmbrosinoMaryland church ordered to evict homeless or pay $12,000 fine
When Rev. Katie Grover arrived on a recent morning at Patapsco United Methodist Church, one of two congregations she pastors in the Baltimore area, she was surprised to find a $12,000 citation attached to the door. According to the citation, the church, located on a busy street in Dundalk, Md., had violated a county regulation that prohibits “non-permitted rooming and boarding” houses by allowing homeless individuals to sleep on church grounds. Patapsco UMC failed “to cease exterior use of property as housing units,” read the inspector’s comments.
Garance Franke RutaTrump rallies the faithful against the 'war on Christmas'It’s beginning to look a lot like the war on Christmas. Or rather, the annual controversy — inspired by the 2005 book “The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought” — about whether or not there is such a thing. President-elect Donald Trump, in his postelection victory tour, is casting himself as the protector of the celebration — or, at least, the traditional greeting associated with it.
Hunter WalkerObama accuses media of treating Clinton unfairlyIn his final press conference of the year, President Obama accused reporters on Friday of being unfair to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Specifically, Obama suggested that the media paid too much attention to revelations from emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, that were released by WikiLeaks during the election. Obama, who also linked the hacking to Russian President Vladimir Putin, made his comments when he was asked if he felt Kremlin cyberattacks cost Clinton the race.
- Caitlin DicksonLefty, the Harlem deer, dies in tragic end to local political drama
The one-antlered male deer at the center of a dramatic dispute between New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo died Friday afternoon, marking a tragic end to two days of local political bickering. The deer reportedly drew crowds after first appearing in Harlem’s Jackie Robinson Park earlier this month. Not long after Lefty was captured, the deer was sentenced to death by the mayor’s office, which cited the advice of state Environmental Conservation Department officials, who’d reportedly informed city park officials that the only other option would be to return the animal to Harlem.
- Olivier KnoxObama ties election hack to Putin, knocks ‘weaker’ Russia
President Obama on Friday tied election-year hacks of Democrats to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and warned Republicans that “Ronald Reagan would roll over in his grave” if he saw so many in the GOP expressing fondness for leaders in Moscow. “Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin,” Obama told reporters at his final press conference of 2016.
- Olivier KnoxObama says Reagan ‘would roll over in his grave’ over GOP fondness for Putin
President Obama on Friday sharply criticized Republicans who say they approve of Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Obama saying that “Ronald Reagan would roll over in his grave” if he saw so many in the GOP expressing fondness for leaders in Moscow.
- Hunter WalkerObama interrupts press conference to get a doctor for someone
President Barack Obama stopped his final press conference of the year Friday to call for a doctor after someone fell ill in the White House briefing room. The incident occurred as Obama discussed the situation in Syria. “I’m sorry, what’s going on?” Obama asked.
- Olivier KnoxObama warns Russia on hacking: ‘We can do stuff to you’
President Obama warned Russia on Friday not to wage cyberwarfare against the United States, saying, “We can do stuff to you” as he defended his handling of Moscow’s alleged hacking of Democrats’ emails to influence the 2016 election. “Our goal continues to be to send a clear message to Russia or others not to do this to us, because we can do stuff to you,” Obama told reporters at his final press conference of 2016. Obama promised that any U.S. retaliation against Russia would come “in a thoughtful, methodical way” that might be hidden from the U.S. public.
- Patrick SymmesEssay: Why Trump will be good for the arts
For the creative class, Trump’s victory feels like a refutation of the liberal worldview they cherish: tolerant, diverse, built on sharing and compassion.
Yahoo News Photo StaffDonald Trump’s ‘Thank You’ tourTrump's event was the kickoff for what his team is billing as a "Thank You Tour," and his aides are quick to correct anyone who refers to it as a victory lap. All the rallies are expected to take place in key states where Trump scored victories.
